Wheel balancing beads.

JayDee · Guru

Wheel balancing beads.

Possum3 · Guru

We used to put water inside the Tractor tyres back in the 40's - but they were heavy lugged, slow moving with low pressures, not for high speed road travel.

diggerop · Senior Member

Water in tractor tyres is for ballast, not for balancing.

gdayjr · Senior Member

Balancing beads, are small ceramic balls, or beads that you put into your tyre when fitting them. They sit loose inside the tyre, and as the wheel rolls, they will settle into the lighter spot of the tyre, and help balance the tyre and wheel unit whilst in motion.

They usually come in one ounce packs. 4wd tyres would need multiple packs to do the job they are designed for.

I would not recomend them to anyone.

They do actually do what they are supposed to do, but they can jam inside the valve stem, and stop the actual valve core from doing its job of sealing the air inside the tyre.

They can actuall get accidently caught in a tyre bead, and affect the tyres sealing ability.

You scoop them up when changing tyres, and put them into the new tyre, in theory they last for quite a number of tyre changes, in reality, they are a pain in the proverbial to use.

Most tyre dealers do not charge to fit tyres these days, so they are not realy a cost saving thing.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Water in tractor tyres is to increase the weight for traction and to keep that weight very low. I reckon a smaller quantity would work for balancing at higher speeds too, but it wold also cause rust in a tubeless tyre, so probably not a good idea.

I have been using balance beads in the OKA for some years. I started with lead shot to see if it worked. It did, but the lead shot tends to power up after a few years so I have now swapped to the traditional ceramic beads.
I think that the weight of beads required is a function of the tyre diameter and I add 400g per tyre. I found a chart somewhere. They continue to do their job for the life of the tyre.
Don't ask me to explain exactly how they work, but they certainly do.

Never had a problem with them and they are certainly cheaper than periodic balancing. Dealers certainly do charge for fitting and balancing. They simply bury it in the cost of the tyre. Buying without fitting and balancing is about $70 per tyre cheaper for my tyres.
Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Saturday 13th of March 2021 09:41:05 AM

Chris61 · Senior Member

I used to use them in steer tyres when I had trucks, now I use them in my 5th wheeler tyres, they actually had them fitted in them before I purchased the van. You buy them in a sealed packet, different sized packets for different size tyres. Put them in still in packet, the packet breaks apart after installation as you drive down the road. The beads continually balance as you drive. You don't have to worry about wheel weights falling off and sending tyre out of balance.

They are very easy to install and well worth the cost to fitting them when fitting new tyres. They can also be fitted after initial fitting, just break one bead and slide them in